The Law Of The Opposite - When You Are Shooting For Second Place, Your Strategy Is Determined By The Leader

There are laws of nature so why shouldn't there be laws of marketing? You can actually build a great-looking airplane but it is not going to get off the ground unless it adheres to the laws of physics, especially the law of gravity.



So it follows that you can create a brilliant marketing program only to have one of the laws of marketing knock you flat if you don't know what they are.



One of the laws is the Law of the Opposite.



In strength there exists weakness. Wherever the leader is strong, there is the opportunity for a would-be No 2 to turn the tables.



Much like a wrestler uses his opponent's strength against him, a company should leverage the leader's strength into a weakness.



If you want to establish a firm foothold on the second rung of the ladder, study the firm above you. Where is it strong? And how do you turn that strength in to a weakness?



You must uncover the essence of the leader and then present the prospect with the opposite. In other words, don't try to be better, try to be different. It is often the upstart versus the old reliable.



Coca Cola is a 100 year old product. Only seven people in the history on the planet have known the Coke formula which is kept in a locked safe in Atlanta. Coca Cola is the old, established product. However, using the Law of the Opposite, Pepsi Cola reversed the essence of Coca Cola to become the choice of a new generation, the Pepsi Generation.



In other words, by positioning yourself against the leader, you take business away from all the other alternatives to No 1. If old people drink Coke and the younger generation drink Pepsi, there is nobody left to drink other brands in the cola beverage category.



Sometimes you have to be brutal.



Scope, the good tasting mouthwash, hung the medicine breath label on its Listerine competition. But don't simply knock the competition. The Law of the Opposite is a two-edge sword. It requires honing in on a weakness that your prospect will quickly acknowledge.

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One whiff of Listerine and you know that your mouth would smell like a hospital. Then quickly twist the sword. Scope is the good-tasting mouthwash that kills germs.



Marketing is often a battle for legitimacy. The first brand that captures a concept is often in a position to portray its competitors as illegitimate pretenders. A good No 2 can not afford to be timid!



As an Internet Marketing professional, you need to understand the Law of the Opposite. If you are not the leader in a product category but want to be a strong second, you need to position yourself opposite the leader because every market becomes a two horse race (as described in No 8, the Law of Duality).



Many Internet Marketing entrepreneurs are using techniques and tools like mind-mapping, keyword research, Attraction Marketing Formula, Magnetic Sponsoring, and MindMeister to conduct the market research and plan an effective marketing campaign. They then use the power of MyStory marketing, brand You Inc, and hypnotic writing skills, in their marketing campaigns, to deal realistically with the position of their brand and the strategy they want to pursue in the world that includes the Law of the Opposite.



The goals is to not emphasize why their offering is better, feature and function-wise, over a competitor's but to develop a message that is recognized, accepted, and agreed to so that it will seduce and persuade a person that what is offered to the target market is real and will work for them.



Marketing is not a battle of products. It is all about the strategy you use to benefit from the Law of the Opposite and if you are not the leader then you must do the opposite of the leader to appeal to the group that does not want to buy from the first choice.



You can find out more about Internet Marketing and home-based businesses by reading updates that will be posted at my blog over the next few weeks.